Intelligence Squared

Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein and Steve Jobs. His new book is The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race, a gripping account of how Nobel Prize-winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a scientific revolution that gives humanity the power to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and give birth to healthier babies. Doudna has invented a technology that has the potential to change human history: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it has opened up a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, the computer and the internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Doudna’s work raises huge questions: Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to